Contest: Mead Fever

[Fedele]

The symptoms of mead fever were pretty easy to spot but they were delayed. Before you ever began to feel its presence, the virus was hard at work making its way through your body and spreading to others through your saliva and mucus. Since the fever came on slow, you usually thought nothing of it. By the time you felt the drunken stupor, the virus had already begun affecting your brain. From there, the fever spiked and it was over in a matter of hours.

Bang Power took a long pull on his vaporizer and exhaled a pungent smoke. “So that’s what happened here, Doc? Poor bastard felt drunk and then he felt like his head was on fire?” Bang pocketed the vaporizer and reached for his hip flask.

“Essentially, yes, but he would have been contagious for days beforehand. Because the onset is so slow, this is an extremely… Are you even listening to me?”

Bang parted his lips from the flask enough to mutter, “I’m listening.”

“You have got to shut this airport down immediately.”

Bang shook the empty flask and put it back into his leather hip holster. “You know I can’t do that.” Bang was telling the truth. Transportation Security was a grossly overfunded feel-good department in Fedele with little real responsibility and even less authority. The airport was run by a committee assembled by the airlines, mostly foreign, that ran flights out of it. It met three days per week and the next meeting would not be until tomorrow.

“Who can?”, the doctor asked as he placed a pinch of mint chew between his bottom lip and his teeth, his hands visibly shaking.

“I’ll bring it up to the committee tomorrow. Just don’t let anybody else get sick until we can figure out who this guy is and where he came from.” The subject had been found on the toilet in a bathroom stall. In his pocket was a mobile phone with a dead battery and no other means of identification.

“That’s… I can’t do that. That’s not how this virus works.”

“Whatever, Doc. If you’re telling me there’s nothing you can do, just go home. I need to find a charger that fits this phone. I don’t even recognize this.”

OOC: Welcome to The East Pacific forum roleplay contest. This is your prompt. The contest will run from now until either the completion of the story until noon, CST, on February 28. The story can continue after that time but subsequent submissions will not be considered part of the contest. Role-play etiquette applies. The person who has the best contributions to the story will be gifted Postmaster General to their TEP nation and a mention in the WFE. The winner will be judged by me based on feedback from the Evolved server.

[Emjay]

Eastrovia International Airport
Terminal

David Lang was nervous as he waited for his flight from Eastrovia to Prometheusburg then to Per in Tivot he would be home free to travel anywhere. He kept looking at his phone, the latest Advan Titan 6, that was just released a few days prior but his was a pre-order to try occupy his mind and to make sure he didn’t get an email from anyone from work about the missing vile from the Emgen lab the day prior that was located on an offshore platform. He noticed that he felt a little hotter than normal and wiped the light sweat that was forming on his forehead but that was common for a person of hybrid descent to have a fluctuating body temperature so he didn’t think anything of it.

He heard over the PA, “Air East Malaysia flight 1568 to Prometheusburg is now boarding,” and quickly collected his bag but his charger had fallen out of his hoodie pocket as he had waited for the boarding to start as he started to travel to the largest city in East Malaysia and one of the busiest airports on Urth that served as the stopping point for flights traveling north and south.

Advan Group Headquarters - Eastrovia
Advan Electronics Division

Grace Min, President of Advan Electronics, held up the latest Titan 6 phone at the executive meeting as she spoke. “This device is the most anticipated device launching in the market right now with the ability of complete customization of the way it looks from the base models that will start being shipped later his week to markets across the Urth. I seen some of the pre-ordered devices before they were packaged for shipping and I was impressed with the ideas people had. From multi-colored to sleek with no logos or any identifying marks and with the level of customization we offer people will want to pay extra to get the perfect designed device.”

Emgen Research Platform 3
10 Miles South of Eastrovia

Emily Hans had been stationed RP3 for 3 months and still had another 3 to go before she started her next assignment on researching Peregrin-Human Hybrid viruses. It had been a pretty normal morning but she had not seen David come back from the mainland yet and he had left yesterday. She didn’t think too much into it as it was common for David to be late getting back when he took a little leave until she went to continue the research they had been doing and noticed a vile was missing. She quickly accessed the log and David had not mentioned anything about moving a vile or destroying one. She didn’t know what one was missing and she would have to visually verify each one, “Noclitas Carrisma… InfiInflaciose Vephia… Ammotio Sesia… Filosis Intesphia… Hynus Ambumen… Febris Fuscus… Convulsio Membr… Oh Aza… Febris Fuscus is missing…” She froze for a moment and only started to frantically look for the Febris Fuscus vile, when another coworker walked into the lab and asked what was going on, “Dark Fever and David are missing!” she shouted as she hit the red quarantine button on the wall.

[Kyrla]

Speech made by Kyrlot Prime Minister SINTER TASS, 10 February 2019

People of Kyrloth-

I’ve just had a very important meeting with the Health Minister, Aran Osan, who has informed me of an impending pandemic disease called Mead Fever. It’s a very sneaky disease. Lets you walk around for days without you noticing anything’s wrong, but in those few days you’re spreading that virus to everyone you meet. And once your days are up, you die.
Now thankfully there have been no reported cases in the Republic thus far. Mead Fever was discovered this week in Gondwana, nowhere near here. But if this was some deadly disease in some faraway country on the other side of Urth, I wouldn’t be giving this address. I’m giving this address because this disease was discovered in Fedele International Airport.
There are three flights a day from Fedele to AZ International Airport, and one more to Vaarisvalla, which works out to be approximately two thousand potential disease carriers since the disease was brought to FIA. Two thousand people, any of whom could be spreading this deadly contagion as we speak, completely unaware.
Now I have been informed that at this stage, Mead Fever is not being treated as a biological weapon. I’m personally not ruling anything out, but even if it turns out to be just your ordinary everyday deadly pandemic, well, it’s still a deadly pandemic.
So: I am officially requesting that anyone who might be a carrier stay home and alert the authorities, who will send out a secure and sterile transport to your nearest medical facility. Don’t just go yourself; you might infect others along the way. We’ve got plenty of spare facilities to deal with exactly these kinds of scenarios that the Guild had installed back in 2013, and we’ll be able to get everyone checked out. If you know anyone who’s been to Fedele in the past week or so, or who has been to AZIA or VVIA, urge them to have the tests done. Even one person who slips by could infect a hundred more. Those hundreds could infect thousands, and those thousands could infect us all.
The Soldiers’ Guild remains steadfast in its patriotic duty to do what is best for the people, and today that means protecting Kyrloth from Mead Fever. Everybody on the Kyrlot phone network will be getting a text with further information and contact numbers right about now. If you have been to Fedele, or AZIA and VVIA airports, in the past few days, get in touch. You might have the virus and getting you treatment is of the utmost urgency.

Fi Quleu, Rur Suxeu. From the worst, make the best ]

[Ember]

February 6th, 2019
Portside Regional Airport, Northern Emberwood Coast

“…are reminded to notify security personnel of any suspicious packages. Your help in ensuring safety at this airport is greatly appreciated, and we hope you have a fine day.”

Smaller airports like this were ideal. Getting something this illicit wouldn’t be possible through a big hub, not after word started to spread. He was still impressed he’d managed to sneak the admittedly extremely suspicious looking mess past the security at Eastrovia.

The phone’s battery was at 17%. He wasn’t looking forward to a long flight without anything to do, not after this kind of move. His foot drummed softly on the faded gray carpet, drawing the ire of a well-dressed businessman in the cheap leather seat across from him. Past the man’s shoulder, he watched a plane pull in to the gate, and ground crews begin to service the plane. The flight didn’t board for another half hour, and he’d already scoured the shops for a charger, but to no avail. None had in stock the one to fit his newer phone. He wiped sweat off his forehead with one arm of his hoodie and looked at the message again.

So much money. He’d never seen so many zeroes in his life, let alone had them in his bank account. It wasn’t perfect. Shadowy men, shadowy funds, shadowy purposes. He certainly didn’t get away unnoticed, his phone still rang occasionally from work, but not like it had in the hours immediately after his getaway. Emily had all but given up trying to talk him back to the platform. He thought it would take her a little less time, but he was a hundred miles away when she started calling. Not really a difference.

He got up a little too fast and saw stars for a moment, and stumbled on his way to the bathroom. He slung his backpack over the hook on the inside of the hall, but he had heard something he shouldn’t have inside when he tripped. He got a bad taste in his mouth and turned to face the pack, fear mounting in the pit of his stomach.

Still standing, he unzipped the compartment and saw broken glass. Okay, nothing to worry about. He’d slipped the sample vial into a graduated cylinder as he left, with some paper towels hurriedly shoved in between as packing material. He began to reach in, then thought for a moment.

It was probably just the base of the graduated cylinder.

Those broke all the time at work, right? No big deal. The stuff was totally fine inside the napkins and stuff. If it wasn’t, and the vial had broken, that would be it, wouldn’t it? No more money, no more new life. He’d be infected, the asshat in the nice suit would be infected, both airports he’d been to so far would be infected. This stuff was made to spread, and in an international air travel hub? The stuff would hit the corners of the map in days. It would be chaos. He’d be patient zero. He couldn’t be responsible for all that, could he?

It was probably just the base of the graduated cylinder.

No point checking, really. It was fine. He rezipped the pack and shuffled back to his seat at the gate.

[Emjay]

Emgen Research Platform 3
10 Miles South of Eastrovia

After Emily had activated quarantine procedures, Doctor Miles Lee, the chief of research had come down to the lab and to review the CCTV footage of the last known time that David had been in the lab before he went missing. He had been in direct contact with their headquarters and government representative via Empyrean, a government video chat service, and was due to conference with them within the hour. They had already recalled any staff that could have been in contact with Febris Fuscus or as it was commonly known as Dark Fever or Mead Fever for the humans. It was the only known virus that was transferable between Peregrin and Human and had averse effects on a hybrid’s cognitive abilities. He was pondering the possibilities when Emily spoke and brought him out of his daze as he thought he heard the sound of a drum, ‘badum tish.’

“Doctor Lee, I have the last known footage of David in the lab pulled up, are you ready?” she asked as she scooted her chair over so they could both view the footage as he nodded ‘yes.’

As they watched the footage it revealed that he had not taken any gloves from the dispenser that would have been registered a system log and locked down the lab to indicate the research was on-going. David had picked up the vile with his bare hand and placed it in his lab coat at which Emily could hear Doctor Lee mumble “cocky hybrid idiot,” as he stood up and started to rub the sides of his head trying to not focus on the sound, ‘badum tish.’ “He thinks that because he is half Peregrin from a pure blood family that his immune system will be better but that’s not the case. Dark Fever… it originated from a Peregrin based on our research and in the early days of colonization an unknown number of humans contracted and died from it. He should know all of this…” he paused when the realization hit him, ‘badum tish.’ “He already came in contact with it before he took it. As soon as it was in his system his cognitive abilities would have been altered… My Aza! Get the test kits! We need to verify we’re not infected! He would have been contagious to us if we came in direct contact with him and our symptoms won’t show until we’re past the treatment stage.”

Emily jumped up at his shouting and fumbled her way to grab test kits, “…what happens if we’re infected? I never read about a cure…”

“That’s because the cure… the cure… the cure…” He looked at her with confusion, “I don’t know. I can’t remember. Why can’t I remember…” he dazed off as Emily frantically got the kits ready. The sounds of the now drums echoed thought his mind… ‘Badum tish, badum tish, badum tish…’ was all his mind could think of in his daze; barely hearing the outside world.